The main contributor to getting a great sound is always the player, rather than a top of the range instrument.
When we were on holiday in the USA, my missus and I were on Beale Street watching three old guys over the road playing in a shop doorway. Guitar, bass & drums, they were in there sixties at least, all with grey hair and ZZ Top type beards, the drum kit was a 26” bass drum, snare drum and one cymbal, no name on the kit.
The bass guitar was what looked like a very battered old Fender Precision, the guitar appeared to be a black Gibson Les Paul. They were playing through a couple of small Peavey combos and sounded amazing. People put money in a bucket, placed in front of the kit.
I had enthused to Joy about the fabulous earthy sound that the band produced, real Delta Blues with that touch of ‘distress’ in the guitar sound - not overdrive, just natural distress. I was convinced that this old black Les Paul was one of the really sought after ones that fetch thousands of pounds over here, creamy and soulful is the best description I can give it, so I went over to put some money in the bucket, smiling and nodding my approval to the guys as they played on. I stopped in my tracks when I saw the name on the headstock of his Les Paul - it read ‘Crate’. The bass headstock said ‘Fenix’.
That evening I learned a massive lesson, the soul I was admiring came from them alone, not some expensive equipment.
It’s something within us that cannot be bought and dedication and practice and more practice is the only thing you can do to get anywhere near what these guys were producing out of that modest gear. In reality they were very poor people who couldn’t afford name gear, but they made budget guitars sound amazing.
This was the beginning of my quest for similar results with our music and I wish I’d known these things before I spent a fortune trying to buy the sound.